Pitch ideas for those vacant lots

The Seattle Design Commission is looking for ideas to temporarily take the place of construction projects that have been stalled by the economy.

The empty lot where Sunset Bowl used to stand.

The hope is to convert the eyesores into opportunities, so they’re asking the community to submit ideas for ‘Holding Patterns,’ interim uses for stalled project sites. “Whether a concert space or a bumper car track, basketball hoops or a fleeting performance stage, from temporary to semi-permanent, wacky, practical or both, the Design Commission is welcoming any and all ideas. Artists, designers, non-profits, businesses, developers, students, astronauts, everyone is invited to contribute ideas,” states the Design Commission website states (.pdf).

The deadline for submitting ideas is Monday, May 24th.

Your submission should include the following:
A brief narrative including rationale, goal, purpose, program, and design intent the location, if specific (all city-wide locations are acceptable) a site plan and/or images that communicate your ideas. Maximum of four 8.5” x 11” single-sided pages per site category. There will be a follow up implementation workshop for selected ideas, so please be prepared to make a two minute pitch for potential partners who are able to help make your ideas a reality.

Submit via e-mail to Valerie.Kinast@seattle.gov a pdf formatted file and in the body of the email the names/backgrounds of participants and contact information for one person. Please put “Holding Patterns” in the subject line. 6 MB maximum file size.

Geeky Swedes

The founders of My Ballard

39 thoughts to “Pitch ideas for those vacant lots”

  1. You’re kidding? Move the market from Ballard Ave, where there’s great cafes, restaurants, trees, shops, and beautiful historic buildings, to a vacant, treeless, trash-strewn, weed-filled concrete lot, no doubt next to a gas station? Are you serious?

    This in a nutshell is the problem in Seattle: so much democracy even idiocy gets a voice.

  2. ” understood that they are looking for a temporary solution.”

    So business can temporarily crash at the market? You can guarantee one of the reasons many people come to the market is because it’s on charming, historic Ballard Ave not a trash strewn vacant lot with hobos buzzing about.

    But if you want to temporarily throw the vendors under the bus for a little social experiment, be my guest.

    The only thing that will save these lots is the economy turning around and thanks to Obama it is.

  3. Neat idea, but so dangerous. Whatever fun thing gets established there will become beloved by a large group of people, and then it’ll be a riot when they try to do something else with the space. Witness the skate park.

    Still… how about some crop that doesn’t need very good soil? Could maybe invite homeless people to do the farming.

  4. “then it sould be a 24-hour beer garden. with an open-air drug bazaar.”

    As I said, we already have that at Ballard Commons.

  5. Food carts. Seattle’s rules regarding food carts are ridiculous; why not use one of the spaces for food carts to set up. It could rotate, so then Maximus Minimus could finally come to Ballard, and Marination Mobile could come back.

    On a side note, BURP was sad. Skillet is good but overpriced and doesn’t have anything like the charm of food a real food cart like Marination Mobile.

    The other possibility is portable planters for a pea patch. That is if we ever get a summer.

  6. Fence it, seed it with grass, and create a leash-free dog park. I’m not a dog person but dog parks seem to be popular.

    Make it a giant P-patch / community garden. Either rip out the concrete and import soil (expensive) or put in simple concrete planters (less expensive).

    Fence it, put in tennis courts.

  7. Dog off leash area. I walked by a vacant paved lot in Chelsea (NYC) last year that was in the midst of doing this. It was fenced with chain link and the only amenity was a kidding pool filled with water, but the dogs didn’t care–they loved it. There was a volunteer group soliciting donations from dog owners and working to make it nicer, but if it’s temporary here, it wouldn’t take much work. And there wouldn’t be a loss of investment with the owner did decide to build. There’s no dog park in the area, and lots of new condos/townhomes, so I bet it would be a hit.

  8. Love the ideas about using the land as public space.

    -Well-organized Flea Market
    -Community gardening (containers/hay bail beds)
    -Food Carts (love small businesses)
    -Circle Spot for gathering peaceably for the community
    -Demonstration Garden for Sustainability Features
    -Clothing/needed goods swap (barter)
    -Bike maintenance and fixing knowledge tent
    -“Spring Clean” headquarters for folks cleaning up Ballard and planting in the public soils.
    -Stone Soup neighborhood hangouts with potluck meals
    -Homeless markets to bring revenue into the street community, free skill-share classes to folks who want to learn

    Thanks to everyone who’s engaged in this right now. Special thanks for being considerate and mindful of folks who are currently living without stable housing. Compassionate Ballard!

  9. P-Patch!! Last time I was in Vancouver I saw a few vacant lots turned into P-Patches…Every time I see a vacant lot/stalled project in Seattle I can’t help but think how great it would be if those were converted to P-Patches like they were up in Vancouver.

  10. “Homeless markets to bring revenue into the street community, free skill-share classes to folks who want to learn”

    What, like how to open a 40 with your teeth with the money the bums can make selling….what would they sell exactly? Dope? Life skills?

  11. I agree the P-patch idea would be wonderful not to mention beautiful….and for anyone that has tried to get a spot at a Seattle P-patch you know the waiting lists can be years long so there obviously is some demand!

  12. Bark more,
    Go bark somewhere else, will you? why bring so much negativity here? Don’t we have enough crap in the world? How self centered can you be? Can you spell compassion? I don’t think so. I hope you experience something like homelessness one day yourself, maybe that will wake you up.

  13. Love the P-Patch idea! Seems very suitable for that location and as was mentioned before much needed in these parts. I bet some of the people living in those big new condo buildings next door would love the opportunity to garden so close.
    And it would bring some green to that otherwise not very appealing intersection.

  14. How about a Thunderdome where people on this forum can fight to the death while the rest of us gamble on it? That would be cool.

    Two commenters enter – One commenter leaves!

  15. If they do a pee patch, be sure the hobos eat only organic feed BEFORE they start fertilizing the veggies. We need to be sure it’s really organic using locally made, natural, sustainable, artisan hobo p**p.

  16. Barfly,

    I think Crafty’s “Circle Spot for gathering peaceably for the community” and my Thunderdome concept could coexist briefly. Though Thunderdome would by it’s dome structure be circular in nature, I wasn’t considering peaceable circle-gathering when I put forth my plan.

    So in the interest of community cohesion, the way I’m envisioning it now is to put the Circle Spot at the center of Thunderdome.

    AND a 24-hour beer garden sponsored by our many fine local breweries.

    This is clearly the best proposal to date. :)

  17. SPG,

    That may be true, but Thunderdome creates jobs!!! We can employ the homeless, establish a huge revenue source (gambling / beer garden), AND get rid of all the nasty riff raff inhabiting this web forum. It’s a win/win/win for the community!

    I’m waiting for Mayor McGinn to get back to me on this, but he never returns my calls.

  18. I like the idea of letting mobile food carts be there…. there’s a place in Portland, I think, that does that. I’ve never been there, but I’ve heard from friends that there’s this big lot with every type of food cart you could think of, and picnic tables. Its a real hit.

    Also think that it could be a good place for outdoor movies… once the weather gets better.

    A park & ride… bring comfy Sounder buses to Ballard, and turn those spaces into P & R’s ;-)

  19. Please. Ballard already has plenty of drinking venues and plenty of places that entice the bums. We finally got rid of the bowling alley–a place that encouraged both–so why would we want to bring back the drunks and bums that we finally got rid of from that location? P-Patch, dog park, mobile food vendors are all something I would want in the NEIGHBORHOOD where i LIVE!

  20. I don’t know about everyone else but i am a bowler and i hate having to drive all the away to shoreline or Edmond or further north or over to west Seattle to go bowling and have fun. I really don’t care what they put there, yes i would love to see another bowling alley built, but i do see that happening anytime soon or ever but hey i can wish right? if i had to put something there I’d put a skate park like they had behind QFC on 24th there for awhile all the kids loved that it and it give them a place to hang out maybe a indoor skate park or something i don’t know definitively something for the kids though

  21. I don’t know about everyone else but i am a bowler and i hate having to drive all the away to shoreline or Edmond or further north or over to west Seattle to go bowling and have fun. I really don’t care what they put there, yes i would love to see another bowling alley built, but i don’t see that happening anytime soon or ever but hey i can wish right? if i had to put something there I’d put a skate park like they had behind QFC on 24th there for awhile all the kids loved that it and it give them a place to hang out maybe a indoor skate park or something i don’t know definitively something for the kids though

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